Biography

Biography

Jiři Kočica was born in 1966 in Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia. He completed his secondary school education in design and photography, specializing in graphic design, in Ljubljana in 1985. He continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana and graduated with a diploma in "Sculpture at a Specific Location" in 1991 under the supervision of professors Lujo Vodopivec and Tomaž Brejc. He completed his specialization in 1993 with the topic "Kata-logos" under the guidance of Professor Dušan Tršar.

Currently, he is employed as a university professor at the Department of Visual Arts and Design at the University of Primorska. Prior to that, he was a professor of design and arrangement at the Secondary School for Arrangement. He served as an external collaborator and assistant professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Maribor, at the Department of Fine Arts for several years.

Since 1993, he has actively published in scientific, professional, and popular journals, and has contributed to several major monographic publications. He was involved in the conceptual design of a four-year project called "Contemporary Sculpture Today" at the Celje Gallery of Contemporary Art. He also participated in a symposium on the connection between science and art in Zagreb. He has been the curator of exhibitions at the Gallery of the Slovenian Institute for Chemistry in Ljubljana for seven years. As an artist, he has had over 70 solo exhibitions in various prominent galleries in Slovenia and abroad. He co-organized and participated in the transformation of old prisons at Metelkova into the artistic Youth Hostel Celica. He has created several public sculptures, including an important monument on Pohorje on the occasion of the establishment of the Pahernik Fund, and a central large sculpture at the Pregl Research Centre in Ljubljana.

Jiři Kočica lives and works in Ljubljana with his wife Vilma Ducman and three children.

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